


21/02/2019: Beach Dates

by pop_incognito



Series: 365 Drabbles [52]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Day At The Beach, Ice Cream, M/M, Pointless fluff, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 13:52:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18801646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pop_incognito/pseuds/pop_incognito
Summary: Haruka and Makoto have a date on the beach, even though Haruka can't swim at the moment.





	21/02/2019: Beach Dates

**Author's Note:**

> Pretend this is set in some alternate universe where Haruka would have had the time to get and heal such a large tattoo before having to do any serious swimming, idk, I thought the idea was cute. Hope you all enjoy!

Haruka does his best to sit still and not flinch as Makoto carefully spreads the unscented lotion over his shoulder and down his ribs, fighting to keep his neutral face and not pout at the crisp blue waves just of reach through the entire ordeal. Apparently noticing the warring expressions on his boyfriend’s face, Makoto stifles a laugh and caps the tube, tossing it back into their bag with well-practiced aim. “Hey now, Haru,” he says amusedly. “None of that. You’re the one who wanted to go to the beach, knowing full well that you can’t go swimming for at least another three weeks.”

Muttering darkly under his breath, Haruka pretends he didn’t hear Makoto’s very sound logic and continues to stare longingly out at the ocean, settling on a full pout like the ocean has personally offended him.

Not even bothering to hide his laughter anymore, Makoto adjusts he angle of their big green beach umbrella and kisses the top of Haruka’s head affectionately. “Just sit tight for a second, Haruka, I’m going to get something.”

“Fine,” Haruka sulks, crossing his arms and then immediately regretting the action because the movement pulls horribly at the part of tattoo that curls around his ribs. While he waits for Makoto to return from wherever he went, Makoto digs his fingers into the sand at his sides, absently drawing patterns in the cool sand until he’s no longer mad at the sea. It isn’t the ocean’s fault that Haruka’s own choice means he can’t get fully wet at the moment. A small smile breaks out across his face as an idea occurs to him, and he starts digging up handfuls of sand and clumping them together over his feet and ankles, burying his legs carefully and fashioning a fluked tail before moving onto his knees.

“Oh, Ariel,” Makoto’s fond voice suddenly reaches him. “I didn’t see you there! You haven’t seen my Haruka around here anywhere have you? I told him to stay put.”

Tilting his head to grin at Makoto, Haruka’s eyes light up when he sees the ice cream cones Makoto is carrying. “Thank you,” he says, bright, carefully reaching up for the one offered to him so that he neither strains his tattoo nor cracks the makings of his sand tail. “Do you want to help me make the scales?” he asks Makoto, looking up at him with hopeful blue eyes.

“Sure, Haru,” Makoto says, dropping down to kneel beside Haruka, ice cream in one hand as he uses the fingers of his free hand to draw scales in the packed sand over Haruka’s feet and calves. “Haru, don’t lean too far back, you don’t want to get sand on your tattoo.”

Haruka groans, and fumbles blindly behind him for their towel bag, propping himself up on it in lieu of building a large mound of sand to lean on like he usually would. “I’m starting to think that this tattoo was more trouble than it was worth,” he grumbles, trying to frown and lick his ice cream at the same time. He just ends up with a blob of bright green ice cream on the tip of his nose, and his eyes cross as he tries to stare at it.

Leaning forwards with a giggle, Makoto says, “Let me,” and licks the ice cream off, humming appreciatively as the mint of Haruka’s ice cream mixes pleasantly with his own chocolate on his tongue. “Tasty,” he says, and Haruka laughs quietly, the motion causing the sand on his thighs to start cracking and sliding off his legs.

“Fuck,” he huffs, narrowing his eyes at the cracks. “Look what you made me do!” he accuses Makoto playfully, gesturing down to his lap with a very serious expression on his face.

Makoto opens his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by a sudden, familiar, high-pitched shriek from the direction of the ocean. They both look over their shoulders in the direction of the sound, and burst out laughing as they are met with the sight of Rei surfacing from the waves, spitting water at Nagisa like a pissed off dolphin. “I bet you that plate of cookies at home that Nagisa just dumped Rei in the water when he got sick of listening to Rei monologuing over the beauty of the ocean.”

“They’re my cookies, so you can’t bet with them anyway,” Haruka reminds Makoto, flicking his boyfriend’s shoulder lightly. “And that is obviously what happened, so there’s no need for a bet in the first place.” He grins at his own logic, and Makoto swoops in to kiss him, never one to resist Haruka’s rare little smiles that light up his entire face.

Tongues flicking over each other’s lips to savour the mix of peppermint and chocolate, Haruka suddenly freezes when he reaches up an arm to wrap around Makoto’s neck. “Ow,” he says, a little squeaky. “I just pulled my whole tattoo.” His sand tail cracks completely as he draws his legs up, slowly putting his arm down and wincing. “Ouch.”

“Let me look,” Makoto says quickly, and Haruka shifts around a little to expose his back to Makoto, who runs light fingers over the raised black lines to make sure he isn’t bleeding. “It looks okay,” he says after a minute of inspection. His fingers linger around the head of the merman inked into Haruka’s skin, resting on Haruka’s shoulder as his body curves down Haruka’s back, soon-to-be blue tail disappearing into the coral and seaweed that stretches around the side of his ribcage. “You’re going to have to sleep on the other side of the bed,” Makoto says idly, withdrawing his hand and sitting down properly, the two finishing off the quickly melting remnants of their ice cream. “So you can sleep on your side and still face the middle of the bed.”

“Guess you’ll just have to be the little spoon for a while,” Haruka sighs, like that’s a big deal, his eyes crinkling as he smiles behind his ice cream cone.

Makoto grins, and the two watch Rei and Nagisa play in the waves like children, dunking each other and running away from the waves with their hands linked tightly. “I guess so.”


End file.
